But it could be far from over: Lou's owners -- and the bounty hunter they hired -- think the suspect in custody merely extorted the couple, and was not actually responsible for shooting their dog.

A family ice fishing on Pelican Lake discovered Lou's body in late February. The Golden lab had been fatally wounded by gunshot, one from a shotgun, though the family doesn't believe he was killed where he was found.

As bounty hunter Stew Peters relayed to Fox 9, Jason Davis and his wife enacted what reads like a scene from Fargo, agreeing to a downtown St. Paul meeting with a man who'd contacted and harassed them about Lou, their family pet, who'd disappeared in December.

The Davises held up their end of the deal, driving into town and leaving money on the hood of a parked car. Then they rounded a couple corners and parked, waiting for Lou to be dropped off.

"Of course," Peters says, "that never came to fruition."

The capture of the alleged extorter -- whom Fox 9 curiously does not name; citing Peters, the TV station says St. Paul Police are "investigating other victims" of similar extortion -- did not give the Davises peace of mind. "I don't feel safe in this community until [Lou's killer] is caught," Davis tells Fox.

On Facebook, where Davis has built a following of people interested in a resolution to Lou's case, he addressed the killer directly, saying the couple -- who have no children -- viewed Lou as a member of the family. "The shit you’ve put our family through is beyond words or comprehension," Davis wrote. "We will say more when we see you in a court room. "

The Davises still have a GoFundMe page to raise reward money for information leading to the arrest of the killer. At present, that fund has raised more than $3,500.

Davis writes he wants to see the criminal "banished from your community and society," adding that only a "sick and twisted [motherfucker]" could do what the killer had done. Killing an innocent pet set that person's life "on a downward spiral," according to Davis, who ended his latest missive on an ominous note:

"How does it feel to know that you have seen the best days of your life. From here on out, they only get worse. Much, much worse.
One more thing....
3:00 a.m.
You know what that means, don’t you?!
Scared now? You should be."